Schmeichel says INEOS signing was set up to fail at Man Utd – even his own teammates wouldn’t pass to him

Peter Schmeichel has suggested Rasmus Hojlund was set up to fail at Manchester United and sold before being given a proper chance to prove himself.

The forward’s permanent move to Napoli was finalised last summer after they qualified for the Champions League, with United earning around £44 million from his sale.

What happened with Hojlund and United?

Hojlund was shipped out on loan to Naples at the start of 2025/2026 following United’s £73m acquisition of Benjamin Sesko, which confirmed he would no longer be holding a starting role.

The Dane did breach the 10-goal mark in his maiden Premier League term, but registered only four goals in 32 top-flight appearances in his sophomore year.

It was that poor return that prompted INEOS to sign a like-for-like replacement striker in the summer window, with Sesko eventually making the switch from RB Leipzig.

However, with the Slovenian now overseeing another spell on the sidelines due to a re-aggravation of a shin injury, Schmeichel believes United would’ve been better off keeping Hojlund instead.

Schmeichel weighs in on Hojlund/Sesko differences

“Rasmus Hojlund was a goal machine. And he will be a goal machine everywhere,” said the ex-goalkeeper of his compatriot.

“He’ll have periods where he doesn’t score, but he will score a lot of goals. He’s young and, from childhood, completely a Manchester United fan. He would do anything for this football club, and he played in the period where he had no service.

“He had players there who very openly would not even pass it to him. A young kid who needed to be coached in order to maximise his great talent, which I think he has; I see him playing for Denmark.

“This is a fantastic player. What do we do? Well, we got the head of recruitment in from Red Bull [United’s director of recruitment, formerly technical director at RB Leipzig] and what does he do? He brings in his player.

“So you’ve got Benjamin Sesko, who is a great player but is always injured. He doesn’t play. We have already gone two years down the road with a striker who has so much potential. Why did we feel the need to make a change there?”